This year new changes have been brought to school lunches intended to benefit the student body by providing more options that make food more accessible for more people.

The new menu changes include providing a vegetarian option for more days of the week and trying to introduce more diverse foods into student diets. Last year, vegetarian lunches were not expected most days of the week, and fruits and vegetables were considered more basic such as apples and carrots.

Nutrition director Anita Turczynski stated, “I really like that we can offer a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. I was able to get jicama in for students to try this month as well. It’s exciting to me when students can try new flavors of healthy foods at school lunch.”

The changes have been well-received by many students, and so far, vegetarians have been especially grateful for the changes to avoid having to pack their own lunch most days. 

Vegetarian, Morgan Eyanson-Renken, believes “that school lunches are pretty good, especially now that they are offering more vegetarian options, and they make it clear that they try to fit something that’s vegetarian into lunch every day.” 

However, these improvements have not ceased complaints. Many argue that pizza is served too often, and the switch to whole-grain bread decreases the quality of the meals. These complaints are often spread between friends instead of brought to the attention of the food staff. Students may not realize that the school nutrition program is very open to ideas to provide the best food options possible for students.

Turczynski responded to criticism stating, “I’m open to new ideas that students may want to request as well. Sometimes we are set by certain guidelines that we may not be able to change all requests. But, we want to get better each and every day.”